Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley - How Faith and Branding Can Ignite Your True Potential

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Spartan philosophy, built in the black-ops lab of business: https://www.findingpeak.comFinding Peak podcast: https://linktr.ee/ryan_hanleyIn this inspiring episode, Belle Rape takes us on her journey of leaving behind the constraints of corporate life to build a business rooted in authenticity and faith. She dives deep into how reclaiming her identity through personal branding not only transformed her career but also reignited her passion for life.Whether you're feeling stuck in a role that doesn’t align with who you are or looking for ways to make your brand a true reflection of your values, this episode is packed with actionable insights and motivational stories to help you take that first bold step toward your true potential.Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryan_hanleyWebsite: https://ryanhanley.comWhat You'll Learn in This Episode:How Belle used faith to navigate the challenges of leaving corporate life.Why personal branding is essential—not just for entrepreneurs, but for anyone looking to make an impact.The key differences between corporate conformity and entrepreneurial authenticity.Practical steps to start reclaiming your identity and building a brand that aligns with your purpose.How embracing failure, taking action, and trusting the process can lead to extraordinary growth.Quotes to Inspire You:“Your personal brand is the foundation of who you are. It’s how you show the world your uniqueness.”“We’re all designed to be a light in the world—your brand helps illuminate that.”“It’s not what you do that makes you unique; it’s how you do it.”Connect with Belle:Instagram: @bellerapeWebsite: blueprintbybelle.comLinkedIn: Belle Rape--Recommended Tools for GrowthOpusClip: #1 AI video clipping and editing tool: https://link.ryanhanley.com/opusRiverside: HD Podcast & Video Software | Free Recording & Editing: https://link.ryanhanley.com/riversideWhisperFlow: Never waste time typing on your keyboard again: https://link.ryanhanley.com/whisperflowCaptionsApp: One app for all your social media video creation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/captionsappGoHighLevel: It's time to take your business workflow to the Next Level: https://link.ryanhanley.com/gohighlevelPerspective.co: The #1 funnel builder for lead generation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/perspective--Episodes You Might Enjoy:From $2 Million Loss to World-Class Entrepreneur: https://lnk.to/delkFrom One Man Shop to $200M in Revenue: https://lnk.to/tommymelloIs Psilocybin the Gateway to Self-Mastery? https://lnk.to/80upZ9Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators. 👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit. To help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcats 13. Just go to Indeed.com slash Podcats 13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Podcast 13. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. Hello everyone and welcome back to the show. We have a tremendous conversation for you with Bell Rape. Bell is a branding specialist.

She helps you find your brand, find your style, and earn what you are worth. Bell is an incredibly dynamic individual. This is a wonderful conversation. And if you are struggling to make a connection with your audience, with your prospects, with your marketplace, with your peers, inside your industry. If you are struggling to make that connection, oftentimes, it's because your brand is misaligned with what you are trying to achieve, and Bell helps you find that connection. You're going to love this episode. It is packed full of both high-level insights and

ideas as well as tactical guides to get your brand where it needs to be to earn what you are worth. You're going to love Bell Rape just as much as I loved this conversation. With that, let's get on to Bell Rape. I know, I should hit record. I was actually, when I was researching for the show, I was watching a YouTube video of a show that you were on, and they did that. It was like, got you sitting down and getting your cup of coffee,

and they're like, you didn't realize. And I have a cat now for some of these things. So for everyone listening at home, if you hear a random meow in the background, It's because I now have a cat. I'm not necessarily a cat person. Nothing against that. Just not necessarily.

But my girlfriend got a cat. She brought the cat here, and my children fell in love with the cat. So then she was like, I can't take this cat away from your kids. So now the kid. Yeah. And it was with me. So then did she have to get another cat? Is that how that worked?

No, it just gives her a reason to visit. Uh, no. Because you're not enough. No. Um, all right. Let's get into the interview. So I have my first question for you is you say on your website that leaving corporate was an act of reclaiming yourself. I would love for you to talk about exactly what that means and why you felt that way.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me on. We talked about before we started that we kind of matched unintentionally. I want to be like, yeah, I called Ryan. I didn't call him and tell him what to wear and he didn't call me. so I really love this. And that kind of conversation, I never could have gotten away within corporate America, but that's my personality.

So I say, yeah, I am a corporate dropout. I used to be so ashamed of that because I felt like I just completely failed at my last corporate job. And by that, part of that was, yes, I lost my identity. I was trying to fix myself into this, it was classic square bag roundhole situation that every day for three, three and a half years, I was trying to be something that a leader in a position I was never meant to be in. The position was never meant for me. I took it because it kind of seemed like the right fit at the right time and I was chasing money. and I was like, I can do this.

And after I got into it, it was just drudgery. And I was just like, I can't continue to do this. I truly lost myself in that position trying to find and figure out something that I was never meant to be. And that is heartbreaking, especially if you're someone who is type A, a go-getter, very driven, never says no. So, like, I had no boundaries either. And that was another part of losing myself as that I was working like seven days a week, which is stupid.

Dumb. I mean, dumb. As passionate as I am about the work that I do now and I love what I do, I don't work seven days a week. Because your girl, needs a rest. Everybody needs a rest. So, yeah, I was just so unbelievably lost. And I'm so fortunate that I was able to kind of reverse engineer

finances and what I was doing to be able to leave that job, thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, definitely, and figure out who I am again. The good news is that you're in good company. I am also, have dashed myself up against the rocks of corporate America multiple times, only to realize that I was not built for that world. And I think, I think to your point, what I found myself doing was getting good at playing the corporate game versus getting good at what I was supposed to be doing in my role. It was like, how do I play politics around this person and how do I position myself here so

that the thing that I want gets done? Not let me create the best thing in the position that I was in. Let me focus on my work. Let me dial in. It's, it's okay, if I want to get this little thing here and take this territory and add more headcount, I got to come around here and smooth this person. And I'm like, and I found the same thing. I don't want to do an only thing. Most of these people are assholes. Like I don't even want to like, I got to kiss this guy's butt, and I got to go to her cocktail party,

and I got to be on this task force. And I'm like, I don't want to do any of those things. Like, I hated every second of it. And the part that I would love for you to dig in a little more is I also felt shame. When I, not fitting into that world, I felt like, well, all the people everyone admire have these, you know, CMO of this position

or CEO of this company and that's how you get known and that's how people respect you. And when I couldn't fit into that world after multiple tries, I also, I had that shameful feeling of like, what's wrong with me? So like, how did you deal, how did you come through that? Was it, did you have? The holidays are here and that means it's the most wonderful time of the year to save with Rackaton.

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With Granger's easy to use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800 Granger, clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Good mentors, did you do mindset work? How did you come through that kind of natural evolution of feelings to get to where you are today? Yeah, oh man, you like hit the nail on the head.

And you just reminded me of, so you've seen a Christmas, not a Christmas story, what is it? National Lampoons Christmas vacation. So Clark Griswold, he's wrapping up his last few days of the Christmas year or of the year. He's going to go on Christmas vacation. And the big boss comes by and there's like all of the peons following him in a row. And he starts out like, yeah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Guadal. I mean, all the things about time he gets to the end of the line. He's like, guess my.

I'm like, that's how it goes. That's how it goes. I feel like it's such a game. And it really did get to be a game. And I found myself talking differently to different people in the company. And I'm like, why can't it just be me? I just want to be me. And so, Ryan, I kid you not.

So when I left that job, I put my head in the sand for a few weeks. And by meaning that, like, I just kind of. I, like, sat on the couch and I was like, I can't, I can't bell right now. I'm not even at my best to bell enough. And that is not me. So I just, I needed to rest. I just needed to rest. So I allowed myself that grace period just to rest. And thankfully, like, I was able to do that. I know, like my husband and I don't have children, so I didn't have like that to continue or to contend with. I mean, being a parent, It is hard.

It is hard. Yeah. And then, you know, so I was able to, like, beat myself and clothe myself and take care of the basic necessities and figure it out. And I know that was all God's planning. It was his divine timing. It was his plan for my life to be able to do that. So I did it for a couple weeks.

And then I was like, okay, I know I can do this again. So I started just kind of networking again and talking to people. The more I was really open and open. honest with how I was feeling, the more of those similar stories started coming out. And I started talking to more entrepreneurs and people who are really trying to break out of the corporate world and saying, what is, I started asking those deeper questions. I wasn't afraid anymore to ask those deeper questions. I wasn't afraid anymore to be like, what if? What if I leave? What if I fail? What if I tank? I just started asking them those

questions. Like, how are you feeling? How does this make you feel? I wanted to really get to the core of like finding my tribe honestly we all want to find someone who is similar to us like please acknowledge that my feelings are legit it's like legitimized my feelings right now of what am going through and if it's not like okay then tell me that it's that it's not like what I should how I could be feeling in the moment what was your experience so I started asking more of those questions I just allowed myself to rest. And then I put myself back out there. And by the grace of God, I just, I got positions like contract jobs,

which was great. And I was like, oh, I think I can do this. Dude. And then, bro, bro, let me just say it like kiddos say it. Bro. COVID hits. Had I known that COVID was coming, I probably would not have had enough gumption to leave my job.

I would have still been there. I would have suffered through it. But I just took it as an opportunity like, hey, the world is shutting down. I can figure out of business to make this work now because I know I can do my job from just to out anywhere. You don't need me sitting in your office. You don't need me to hold down real estate that you don't want to pay for anyway to have a position to do my job with excellence.

So, yeah, I just kind of, I got my feelings validated, had a good cry, Got a snack. Put my big girl panties on, straight in my crown, and kept going. Oh, with that. Yeah. I don't know how I didn't know this before,

but there's one phrase in the Bible that is written 365 times, and it's, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Is written 365 times, and I don't think, that 365 times is a coincidence, right? Every day, do not be afraid.

He will guide you. And I think the fact that you, that faith is such a large part of both your business and your life is incredible. I think that more people, I hope more people have the strength, the guts to talk about their faith and to integrate their faith into their business, whatever that may be. Right? I try to as much as I possibly can. How has that aspect, how has faith played a role in guiding this new chapter, right? It's all over your website. It's part of your message. I've heard you mentioned it many times in other places. Like, it's obviously a huge part of your life. And how do you use your faith to guide you through, you know, becoming an entrepreneur coming out of the corporate world? Yeah. Yeah. So in the corporate world, it really wasn't something that I was,

open to talking about as much. It was kind of poo-poohed. It just, you know, it was never a hard written state and rule. Like, do not talk about your faith. Do not talk about, you know, your beliefs. It just wasn't something that I felt like I could be super open about. No one was really receptive to it. But it really dawned on me one day when, I think I was listening to another podcast. I can't even tell you what it was. I listened to so many podcasts and listen to so many books that there was a phrase in it that said, you know, at the end of our life, we all want to get to that point where you get

to the pearly gates and you hear God say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Done is still action. And I knew that I had to continue taking action on my life. There was still so much to be done. I just didn't know what. And maybe this is it. I feel like I've hit the jackpot doing what I do right now because I get to talk about my faith. I get to be open about that.

And I've lost followers. I know there's clients that I haven't gotten because of it. Look, I don't care. I don't care because at the end of the day, I know I'm going to be provided for. I am still, I'm alive. I'm healthy. If I weren't alive, I know where I'm going, which, like, that's not a bad place to be either. I'm going to heaven.

Really? Not bad. So I kind of, I really try and take that step back and it's a hard look at what does my life look like without my faith and without my religion. I'm, I'm dutch. I'm dead. There's nothing. And when I get to talk about my faith and my religion, I know that I light up.

I get to ignite myself and ignite others to have that ability to go out and do it. They were designed and created to do. I was designed and created to do this. And when I work on personal brands with my clients, I get to ignite them to go out and do what they were designed to do. And when I put it in those terms, they completely understand it. Like, look, we're all matches. When you strike a match, that is your personal brand, like, coming to life. And then you have this confidence in what you are doing and who you are, which could be the backbone, like you lean on your faith.

you lean on your family, you lean on your friends, that gives you that confidence to shine even brighter, even brighter to go out and illuminate the world that we are in. There's so much darkness. Like, why be, why contribute to that darkness when we are all light? Go and be a light and do what you are designed to do. Yeah. So I get to talk about my faith and it's an honor to. It's a blessing too. and we're called to talk about our faith. As Christians, we're called to talk about our faith and build God's kingdom. So I have a platform and I'm going to do it.

I love that. One of the things that I find so interesting about people who have not embraced branding, have not built a brand, who fight the idea of doing that type of work, even what I think is kind of derivative work, which is marketing, right? It's very tough to do marketing without a brand,

almost impossible. It often doesn't work. You're just kind of wasting it. dollars but when people ask me about it and I'm not a branding expert in any regard my side is much more on the tactical marketing side I've been a CMO and a CEO and like I don't it's it's such a struggle for me because to me brand is so obvious it and people ask me about it I'm like it's a filter it's the filter like you want to know why you have crappy clients because your brand isn't strong. You want to know why people struggle to buy from you because your brand isn't strong.

You want to know why your closing message doesn't connect with prospects, with vendors, with partners because your brand isn't strong. When your brand is strong, clear, and actually is a representation of who you are or your businesses, then the people who connect with that message just self-select in. They're like, yes, yeah, that's the one right there. That's me. Like, I want that. Like, that either. whether it's filling a gap in their life that they don't have or it just immediately connects with who they are. And it's so obvious to me. It's so many people struggle to grasp that concept. Why do you think that is? Like, why is it that companies will go spend, you know,

$100,000 on a marketing campaign with a brand that's mushy and gray and all over the place and antiquated and like, and then they wonder why they're getting. getting this terrible ROI when it's no one knows what to connect to. Right, because you, you spend money on a fancy graphic for a Facebook ad? Do you think that's just going to change everything? Like, what is it about the concept of branding that it feels like people either get it or they don't? And how do we start to turn the people that don't into believers?

Right. I mean, that is an amazing question. So I think people still, like, two part, people still think branding is for influencers. So they're like, I don't want to be the Kardashians. I don't want to be the next, you know, Brady family or, you know, whatever that influencer is. They don't think that they want to be that influencer status. When I say influencer status, I don't want that either.

I want to have a super strong brand that magnetizes my tribe, my audience of people towards me. I want to be attracted to them. I want to fill the gap of what they need, which is what you said. So I think that it's, the pendulum is starting to swing a little bit more towards a more positive sentiment of having a personal brand because I truly think that like the statistics are getting out there. So 70, 74, 75% of Americans trust someone with a personal brand. The higher the trust need, the more you need to have a personal brand. So what I mean by that is so someone like a, if you're going to hire a doctor, dentist, lawyer, most of the time the first place that someone is

going to go to is your social media, you know, or look for you on a website. They're going to see, they want to know who you are. If I'm going to have a surgeon, cut me open, I want to know that they're not hanging out in the club the night before. I don't need someone trying to cut me open with a laser with like a shaky hand, you know, like I want to know who they are. What kind of bedside manner do you have? What's your reputation? So, um, Your personal brand is, it's your foundation of who you are. And most people still have that idea that they don't need a personal brand because they aren't an entrepreneur. They aren't a small business owner. They don't have a product or service that they're selling for themselves.

When in fact, the opposite is so true. If you have a, if you're sitting in a job in a cubicle. If you ever have any hoax or aspirations of moving to a higher position, you need a personal brand because you need to start developing that voice within you and have a public place to share your expertise. You need to show that you're an expert in the industry. So also, I think that having a personal brand is extremely important for teenagers. Look, I have nieces and nephews who are teenagers now. And while I'm not a huge advocate for them being on social media, we can talk about that in a little bit, because social media can be very dangerous, but it is a way for them to start building their digital footprints and their digital resume. And they need to do it

in a way that is well thought out starting when they are young. Like, I didn't have social media growing up. Thank the Lord. I didn't have social people growing up because so many stupid things would have been captured that now that stuff follows you. It's never permanently erased. So if you want to get into college, get that job, I've turned down people for jobs because they looked great on paper on their resume, but I looked at their social media and I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, I can't work with that and I'm not going to. So developing your personal brand is the foundation of who you are. It allows you to show your expertise in whatever industry you want to be in, to talk about, to show, and your marketing is all the pretty things.

It's the aesthetics of your brand, which will rarely, if ever, be right if you don't have your personal brand completely solidified. It just won't. You can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on your logo like you were talking about, but it just won't be right unless you know who you are. Yeah. So your personal brand is your idea. Yeah. No, I love your idea of almost like brand training for teenagers that they have a clear picture of like, because the company, I just exited from a company in November of last year. And, you know, we were constantly hiring. I never wanted to see a resume. I just assumed that like, look, like you're interviewing for the job. Like, you're probably like a reasonably intelligent human being or it was insurance

industry. So the bar is pretty low. Sorry all my insurance friends. But, you know, what I wanted to see was like, who is this person? Are they going to come in and be a problem? Like, are they going to go all like, you know, wokey on us when they get in here? Are they going to cause problems? Are they, you know, like, what are they doing?

are they going to take a ton of time off? Like, you know, we're a startup. Like, maybe in a company of a thousand, that's perfectly fine. It's all good. But like, this is grind time for us. And when we're hiring people, we're telling them, like, you're not going to work seven days of weeks. I completely agree.

But you're going to have to put in a solid 45. And those 45 are going to have to be dedicated hours. Like, you can't be screwing around. Like, we need to get things done. And we can go to their social media profiles. And you would have a real clear picture. Like, maybe they work out a lot. Maybe they have a hobby they're super into.

Like, I don't need to know you're great at the thing I need you to do today because I can train you for that. I need to know you have the skills, character, qualities of someone who can become good at my company. And I think today that is, especially for hiring, as more or more important than it is the actual skills to the job. Obviously, you know, if you're blasting rockets into space, you need to know be a rocket scientist. But outside of some certain very technical professions, most things can be trained or learned. And what we really need to know, I think, today is who are you? What am I getting? Right.

And our company cultures today, especially in a remote world, and I love your feedback on this, in a remote world, your brand, your brand is oftentimes goes hand in hand with your culture. And if it doesn't, that causes all kinds of problems. But if it does, your brand is going hand in hand with your culture. So if you have a brand that represents who you are and that matches the culture, then the types of people that want to work in that environment, they're the ones that interview, right? I have a lot of friends that say, especially in the insurance.

I came out of the insurance industry. That's kind of the industry that I've been in for last 20 years. And every little boy's dream, just so you know. The problem is you develop this. Here's the thing. One, insurance is phenomenal. I love bus and chops and everyone who's in the industry that listens knows that it's fun to make fun of ourselves.

But you develop this arcane, like, language. Like, there's like a language to insurance that once you learn it, it doesn't apply anywhere else. So, like, if I were to take, it's not transferable in any regard because the words are you, it doesn't matter. But here's my point. I have all these friends and people, and I get asked to speak a lot,

and they'll be like, oh, you know, you say all the time that hiring is easy. And I was like, yeah, hiring. was easy and they're like wow we can't find anybody there's no good talent out there and I was like that's because your your brand blows who would want to work there like who would want to work there like look at your logo looks like it was made in a in a dot matrix by a dot matrix machine in the 70s right your office smells like mothballs your building hasn't been updated since the 90s right like who who would who's like yeah I can't wait to go work at that place that place looks awesome

You know what I mean? Like there's no, your social media stinks. There's enough word non-existent. Like, no one knows what they're getting so they don't want to come in. So I would love for you to maybe expand upon your thoughts of all this little diatribe that I went on. And really, I'd love for you to connect kind of this idea of brand and culture and how it equates to the people that we ultimately find. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I said it, I previously said it. Like your brand attracts your tribe. We are, as much as we think we're like business to business, or, you know, business, consumer, customer, you know, directly, we're still human. We have to have that human interaction.

We were designed that way. God designed us that way very specifically to want that human interaction. And I think that, you know, the pandemic elevated that or escalated that in a manner that we crave that human connection. So whether we're in the same office space or not, we still crave that human connection. Like I love having these, you know, Zoom calls with clients because you see parts of expression when you actually get to see someone versus just talking to them. So having a brand and having a well curated brand of what you see on your social media

feed is what you're expecting to get also. So you want to be real. You want to be authentic. So there does definitely have to be that. connecting point. You don't want to meet someone in person and be like, this is not, this is not connecting the dots for me at all. So you want to make it seem as appealing as possible to your audience. Part of your brand is knowing your audience. Your brand is not to serve Bell. My brand, Bell, is not to serve Bell. Ryan's brand is not to serve, Ryan's brand is

not to serve. Ryan, it is to serve other people. What you do, is a service, it is a product for other people. You've got to keep that in mind because that's the way that you attract the people who want what you have to offer, whether it's a service or product. The fact is that, you know, I'm not doing anything revolutionary. How I do it is revolutionary because I'm the only one doing it the way that I do it. And the same with you. So I'm attracting the people who are like-minded, who have,

something that they want to, um, engineer, re-engineer we configure within themselves that, because they see something in me that they want a part of that, if they're not already like it. Or I attract people who are like me. They're like,

well, I have this. I just don't know how to bring it out on social media. So we all want that human attraction. It is that human attraction that really brings us together. And if we're not serving others and showing up in that way, we're never going to attract them. So do it in an attractive manner to attract other people.

Everybody's attractive manner is different. You know, mine is, you know, I put a little, I put some mascara on and lip cloths on, and I wear, I, I love clothes. So I dress in a way that attracts my audience. Your audience is different. Everyone's audience is different. They are seemingly okay with me wearing a dirt brown sweatshers. A lot of movie people. Although I think we agreed it's called Earth Tones, but yeah.

They're easy to. Yeah. Well, I want the audience to stop for a second and go back. And I'd love for you to expand on this talk because this is so powerful. And I love the way you put it. What you're doing isn't what makes you unique. It's how you do it because it's specific to you. Can you expand on that particular thought?

Because I think that nuance is so incredibly important and very powerful. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, there's thousands of other people out there doing what I do. honestly you know again like I'm not Elon Musk I don't have that brain I'm not sending rockets into space I'm fine with that but I am one bell I'm only one bell so how I do something truly is it's my it's my personality it's how I come to life it's how I get to illuminize myself that I get to then shine that light onto other people it's what sets me apart it's my uniqueness because of my personality

it's how I speak. It's the tone that I speak. It's, you know, I'm a little bit jovial with most of my life and I'm bubbly. So I attract those people who want that. And consequently, I repel the people who don't want that. And that repelling was a lot of in the corporate world. I did great in an agency environment. I worked in an ad agency environment and I did great in that environment because we were so creative and we were always thinking and there was a lot of other people in that environment like me. We were all hank minded and we got the job done. But the corporate environment, the corporate environments that I was in is a little bit more buttoned up and that just was really confining to me. So it wasn't able to really have the bell personality every day and in every situation that I wanted.

So I knew like there was something that I was repelling it. Like internally, I was repelling it. So I knew that came out in an external manner. So, yeah, I think that back to your original question, I mean, we're not doing anything that's super original, but it's how we do it. It's our personality that comes to life. We allow your personality to come to life.

And you're going to attract the people who want to be attracted to you and who want what you have to offer. Yeah. I, uh, it's funny. Um, and I think, I want to share an anecdote with you and, and, uh, because it's my show, I can do whatever I want. No, I'm just kidding. Well, yes, but no.

Uh, you know, I get doing, anything bad, but, um, I think, you know, talking to your corporate, to the, to the corporate environment piece and there's a lot of people to listen to the show who are ambitious, driven people who are. stuck in corporate situations. So I'm sharing this story so that they understand. I think a lot of times corporate environments will suck you in because they'll tell you, hey, we love how you're bubbly. We love your energy. We love your viewpoint on the world. And that, we need that here. And I think they honestly believe it when they say it. And I'm talking about they as this big entity because the people who live and are successful in those environments, particularly the middle and lower levels of those

environments oftentimes have assimilated like the Borg and it becomes this group think methodology. And what's funny is, my company that I told you I exited from in November, the company that purchased me, when they purchased me, that was the pitch that I got, right? You're honest, you're up front, you think forward, you know, visionary, all this kind of stuff. You have these unique ideas on how things should be done. And we've been around for 50 years and we need that. We need that in here. And we're going to, you know, and they added me to the executive team. and I got invited to one executive meeting. And then I was never asked back.

And in that meeting, I'm sitting there, and this is my first one. And I'm like, oh, I want to contribute and I want to be part of the team. And I also can't help myself. I have, my brain is broken in a lot of ways. And one of those ways is like, I can't not participate.

Like, if I have a thought that I think can add value, it's probably a better corporate move to just keep that shit to myself. But I can't do that. they roll out this new brand and they're all so excited and it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and um i know where this is it's fucking terrible it was the worst god awful like lack of energy like like like the guys who really need those ed pill commercial things it's what i think they deal with every day that's what i imagine when i think of this brand is like a guy struggling with

There's just no gumshit, not to get gross. I don't know why that's the example that came to my head. I apologize. But it was just that wheat. It was just nothing to it. So they go through the whole thing. And I stood up and I said, I kind of like the original brand better. And they're like, what?

And I was like, yeah, it's old. And it looks like it was made in the 80s. But it's also got a ton of character to it. Like, and everybody knows it. It's immediately recognizable. It's been around for 50 years. Like, you know, and I think we could play on like this, how it is, like, got, you know, 17 different features to it and it's like this weird thing. I was like, but it's kind of got some personality.

I was like, this has no personality. Like, no one is going to look at that and feel emotionally connected to it. And then I sat down. Yeah. And it was like I just draw a bomb in the middle. Like, no one knew what to say. Like, no. buddy. They're looking around

and I started to get that feeling of like, I probably should have kept my mouth closed because then like, you know, someone in the hallway was like, you know, it's really, really, really bold of you to come in like that. You know, like, they're trying to like pump me up and I'm like, that means I'm fucked. Like, I'm completely screwed.

Like, it was not the right thing to do. I should have never shared my opinion. And then I was never invited back to another meeting. But it's funny, like you know, to your point, like, I think I have two thoughts on that. At the time, I, at the time,

I initially felt bad. Not because, one, I felt like I had hurt the people's feelings who created the brand. It's not their fault that they did a terrible job because I think they were probably given a group think vision and they were trying to mash this group think vision

the best they could. Like, they're little untalented people. The work product they came out with was God awful and still is. But, you know, it's not their, I don't want to blame them. I didn't want to make them feel bad. I thought I was helping. And I think I could have conveyed the message better. But what I took away, and this goes to your branding, is that this is who I am, right? They wanted this. This is who I am. They got exactly what they wanted. And if they don't actually want it and they don't

invite me back again, I'm going to be okay with that because I'm not going to make the mistake that I made in previous lives where I kind of succumbed to the Borg and allowed myself to be boxed in. Like, I'd rather be the black sheep than just fit in with the crowd and buy along like everyone else. You have taken that and created this amazing brand. And guys, if you go to Bell's website and check out the work that you do and how you present yourself, it's phenomenal.

Like, how do the people who believe, what we're talking about, right? They're bought in. They're listening to you. They believe it. Where do they start with this? How do you start to do as we started with? How do they start to reclaim themselves if maybe they don't have the, maybe they don't have the, they don't have the, they don't have the full power today to go all the way, right? They're not just going to jump out of their corporate job today. They're not really to make that move, but they want to get start, they want to start to build. And I know you're not advocating for that, but right, they want to get started. How would you, is it start playing around with an Instagram channel? Is it maybe

start journaling? Like, how do they start to kind of get their hands around what they would want their brand to be and play around with it a little bit? Yeah. Well, let me back up just a second. And there was something that really hit me or just like, oh, stick a knife in and twist it and course salt in it and all the things. First of all, if someone asks you your opinion on something, they have got to be prepared for what you say. You can have your delivery be honest and kind. And I mean, I learned that one the hard way in my 20s because I did something very similar. I was in an ad agency and the designers asked me what I thought of an ad and I was just like, yeah, I don't get it. Like I could have been a little bit more tactful. But I just, I was like, I don't get it. And they were like,

what do you mean? You don't get it. And I was like, I don't get it. Like, I know the brand, but I don't understand what you're trying to say with this ad. And so, again, I could have been a little bit more tactful, but I knew I hurt their feelings. Like, it, these were senior designers. They'd been around the block many times, knew what they were doing, created award-winning canyans, and this just missed the mark. Because they were like, what do you mean? You don't get it. I was like, I don't get it. And so they restarted. But if someone asked your opinion, give them what tell them what you think and be kind you can still be honest and kind in your delivery if you're not invited any more meetings fine but i was just so triggered by what you said because i have

done the same thing so many times i haven't been invited back to those meetings and my feelings were hurt because i wasn't invited back to those meetings but i've since had time to reflect and go i wasn't invited back because i gave them my opinion i'm not a yes man i'm not and if you want to have to have hire me to work on your personal brand? Like, I, I won't be friends with you. I will love you. I am your biggest cheerleader because I want you to succeed, but I'm not your guest man. I have done that for so many years. And I know what it's like. I know what it's like for people just to say yes to me. And I'm like, no, I want you to be honest. So always be honest. You've got to be honest with yourself. So let me answer your question. If you feel like you have something else in you,

like if there's another product or service that you want to go in on, start small. Look through your Instagram feed, your Instagram feed, your Pinterest, all of your social media follows a very specific algorithm. It feeds you the things that you are interested in. So can you find a common thread of what you're looking at that's something that you're interested in from a business perspective? You know, you want to look at those things. When I left my job, seriously, I was my last corporate job.

I was this shell of myself. And it took me a while to say, okay, well, maybe I'm just going to, I'm going to blow everything up. I'm going to burn the ships. And I'm going to do something completely different. And I was like, what do I want to do? And I never landed on something that I really felt as passionately about as marketing and branding. Like, it's in my DNA. It's in my blood.

I'm one of probably the very few people who went, who went to school for something and is still doing something in that name. So it just took me a while. Like, take a minute, breathe. And like, what do I really, what do I love? No one's asking you to do it for the rest of your life. Come on. We don't live in that generation anymore. I mean, my parents stayed in their jobs for 30, 40 years.

No one's asking you to do that anymore. You have an opportunity. to do multiple things, but also don't hop around every, like, year or so, like, or every six months, figure out what you really want to do and have your why. What is your why? I do what I do because I want other people to go out and do what they were designed to do with excellence, with an impact, making an impact to build God's kingdom. That's my ultimate why. This is why I was design. So just take those baby steps. Like it doesn't have to be anything massive. Create a vision board. Like, there's nothing wrong with creating a vision board that have actionable steps to make those

things come to life. People will allow you to work for them for free. Believe it or not, they will allow you to do this. Some places will give you a little baby paycheck or there's some perks to doing something. Like, if you think you want to be a sports analyst, go shadow someone for the day. I had so many internships growing up, but such fun experiences. Like, I was a DJ one summer because I wanted to be on the radio.

You're scratching all ones and twos? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But it was classic rock. So I was this, like, I was 18 years old, long, long, long, blonde hair. But I worked at a classic rock station. They were like, do you even know what classic rock is? And I was like, yeah, I do. So I did it.

I was morning. drive time radio personality with these old guys. I mean, they were like in their 40s, Ryan. They were ancient. First time, I was like, you guys are so old. And now on that age, I'm like, ooh. Yeah. I know.

My kids the other day said, so I'm 43. And my kids, the other day, made a reference to me being old. And I'm like, I had to like stop for a sec because I was like, in your, in my head, I'm still a kid. Like, I still think about myself like a kid, you know? because I'm like, I look at my dad, he's like 68, you know what I mean? I mean, he's old, you know? I'm not old, he's old.

My kids are looking at me calling me old. I'm like, I'm still a kid. What are you talking? I still listen to rap music, you motherfucker. You know, I don't know. You know, it's just funny. It's funny how all that works. But, no, I think your point is dead on.

And I really like the idea of, like, if you want to be this other thing or a hobby or if you think a hobby could become a side hustle, you know, One of the barriers that I try to break down when I talk to people is there's this, especially in suburban America, and I think this is particularly true with men, although it may be true with women. I just deal with a lot more men, is that the idea of a side hustle or a second job feels somehow like they're failing, right? Like, if they, you know, because I had a buddy, actually, the sports analyst thing is what,

is what picked this up for me is he really loves sports. talking about sports and he's like, you know, I've always wanted to do like an Instagram channel where I broke down, you know, I think he's like, I think he's like a Giants fan or whatever, but not just them. And I just was like, so, so go do it? And he's, you know, what? And I'm just like, dude, this is like the, I was like, this is like the easiest thing in the world for you to do. Literally, buy, you can, you, you, you need a, you need a tripod for your camera. It'll cost you $2 on TikTok and you literally have everything you need to do analysis of games and throw it up on Instagram and see if people like it.

Here's the best part. Do it for six months and if no one likes it, give it what you you can do. You can just shut it down. And if they like it, this is like your favorite thing. And like you said, you could test branding and like that's the beauty. I feel like people because of the long and and I'd love for you maybe just expand on this as we kind of run to the end of our conversation here. because I sometimes get the sense from people that the permanent nature of what we put online, that every single thing we put up needs to be curated and on brand and perfect.

And when you look at the people who grow the fastest, who have the most influence, the most, you know, engagement with their content, yeah, they have some of that curated, highly produced stuff. But it is always mixed in with like, look at Gary Vaynerchuk. This didn't test more crazy ideas in social media. And he just throws it out there. And he'll even tell you, like, some of the stuff doesn't work.

And then he doesn't do it again. And it's still out there. The crazy post that didn't work, it's still sitting in his feed. Yeah. But no one even, no one cares. And like, I guess, you know, I don't know that I even have a question coming out of that. I just, I feel so passionately about like, just do something. Like, there's no reason to sit every day with this anxiety and this, this sense of, of miss between, you know, like, someone asked me one time, actually, it was my son.

My older son, my kids go to a Catholic school and my older son enjoys the faith side of it. My younger son does not, but my older son loves the, is really, it really enjoys the faith side of it. And he was asking me, like, what do you think hell is? that? Do you think hell is really like a pit of fire? And I said, no, I do not. I said, I think hell is when you get to the gates of St. Peter, the version of you that God intended is standing there waiting for you and you have to measure yourself against it. And hell are the people who that, who look at what they could have been and can't handle the difference. And I don't know that that's true or not. That's just the way that I visualize it. But I was like, the only way to get to be

that version of you is to do shit. If you're just standing, you know, sitting in place, like, yeah. And it just, it kills me. Yeah. Yeah. Same. I, I don't sit still. Like, there are moments where I'm like, okay, I need a break.

Like, so I ran this past year. This was my husband's challenge and I somehow adopted it, along with multiple of our other friends. He was in a run the Spartan trifecta this year. Do you know what the Spartan races are? Yeah. Okay. So it's like running, mixed with all these obstacles. And so our goal is to do the trifecta this year. So we did the Beast this past weekend, which was basically a half marathon with 30 obstacles. So we did that Saturday. So Sunday or yesterday, I was like, I need a minute. I just need to like sit down and veg out for a second. So I did that. Like let yourself rest. But if you have an inkling of something that you want to try, Are you, what is the worst? Ask yourself, what's the worst that could happen? What is the worst? Are you okay with that? Are you, are you harming yourself? Are you harming others? If the answer is no, okay, then go, go try it.

Like, life is too short. You could create something amazingly beautiful that is going to impact other people's lives. like because I took a chance on adopting my husband's goals this year, I have deeper friendships because of it because our friends did it. Like this beautiful group of people who I know if I needed them at 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning, they would be here immediately. So without saying yes to something, like I don't know if I would have developed those friendships in that manner. Same with the business that I have right now.

If I hadn't have said yes, then I wouldn't be here. I'd be in another job not as happy as I am right now. I would be thriving. I know I would be thriving, but not like I am right now. Like, look, I'm not the richest person on the planet, but I am so rich in happiness and I'm so fulfilled by what I'm doing. And I love what I'm doing so much that the money is a byproduct of that, that then I get to use and use in different manners to go influence others and build God's kingdom.

Like, win, win, win, when, when. Go do something. It's not permanent if you hate it. Just like the example with your friend, like do it for six months. If you hate it, shut it down. Okay. What did you lose? Nothing.

He probably ended up learning more about the industry. And someone might end up picking him up for a full-time job on that one day. Okay. Great. Yeah. Like, be passionate about. something, just anything, pick something, be passionate about it and go do it. We've got to stop being so lazy and having a second something, whether you're passionate about it, like having a second

passion, like that's not a failure. It's because you have something that you want to better yourself as a human being and impact others in a better way too. It's a service. Here you are. Again, it's a service. Go serve. There's nothing wrong with that. How are you losing? How in the world? tell me, how are you losing? You're not. You're not. No. Well, this has been incredible. I appreciate you. A huge fan. Where can people find more about you, connect with you and get deeper in your world? Absolutely. So I would love to hear more from your audience. Like what did they want to know about their personal brain, their style, their faith? You can find me on Instagram at Bell Rape, B-E-L-L-E-R-A-P-E. Yes, that is my last name. I'm married into it. 21 years going to

strong baby and so you can find me there and um on my website it's blueprint by fell dot com and then we have linked in links also show notes too so you can connect uh where you're listening watching just scroll down you'll find uh those links highly recommend the connection on both uh instagram and your website is phenomenal there's like a couple pictures from your clients there like one is the guy with a blue suit it's a black dude and you got like the up shop like a badass car and I was like, man, I can love that picture. I want to be standing in that picture. I love it.

So appreciate you. Thank you so much. And just thank you for the time. Thank you so much, Ryan. I am truly appreciative too. Thank you. This is so fun. Awesome.

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